Grace's Big Girl Room - An Update

We are slowly making progress with Grace's transition from little girl room to big girl room. 

Eventually there will be a big reveal but for now, I'll share a glimpse of what we've accomplished.

I painted the back of her bookshelf pink, to which Grace exclaimed, I always wanted pink in my room.  I'll count that as a seal of approval.

I'm working on decorating the shelves.  Just like the rest of our house, the shelves will have a mix of homemade items (quilts, from the Queen of Quilts, a baby blanket turned monogrammed piece of art, the stained glass butterfly made by my father in law), thrifted items (the school house letter g in the picture above and the little silver rabbit) and pictures.

The chandelier I've always hoped to add to our house has been bought. 

And, thanks to my dad, finally hung.

One of Grace's first dresses has been mounted in an ornate frame and is hung above her new big girl bed.

The big girl bed was the biggest transition from little girl room to big girl room.  We finally got rid of her toddler bed and upgraded to a big girl bed.  Grace had fun testing out mattresses.

All beds need a headboard.  We found a $14 thrifted headboard  from Goodwill.

A few coats of white paint and the addition of a wooden embellishment (from Home Depot) gives the headboard some much needed character and charm.

The queen of quilts is making progress on Grace's quilt.

Which, when completed, will go so perfectly with the princess toile sheets we found.

But, the most surprising addition to Grace's room came from the generosity of a fellow blogger. 

The very thoughtful and generous Michelle from Heart Made Mess surprised me by sending an antique brush and comb set to Grace.  {Thank you so much Michelle!}

We are getting closer to the big reveal.

Dollhouse Progres: Big Picture, little picture

While my handsome husband is busy with the big picture, constructing Grace's dollhouse...

I am busy with the little picture, literally.

When I envisioned Grace's dollhouse, I wanted a room to look as much like her room {the nursery we lovingly decorated when I was pregnant}.  Since we decided to be surprised about the sex of our bundle of joy, we painted her room yellow and went with the theme Guess How Much I Love You {from the book by Anita Jeram}.

Grace's Room

So, it seemed fitting we have these prints represented in her dollhouse room.  I did a Google search and shrunk down the images.  My handy husband made the frames and I used some of the plastic to cover the prints {it gave it the look of glass}.

Honestly, when I first looked at the picture below, I thought it was her actual room.

Grace's Dollhouse Room

Believe it or not, there was something missing.  The first thing I bought, when I found out I was pregnant, was this Friendly Farms Moon.

Grace's Room

So I sewed a little version of this moon and hung a star button from it.  I think this is the perfect finishing touch.

Grace's Dollhouse Room

From the yellow on the walls, to the paneling, to the pictures, to the moon...this room will now live on not only in my memories but also in this dollhouse.

Ok, enough with the sentimental stuff. Time is a ticking. One week left to go so I better get back to painting!

Baby Blanket Turned Personalize Art

I am at the place in my life where I am packing up baby clothes. Certain pieces have great memories, in particular, Grace's blankets. She has always been a blanket girl SO instead of packing them up in a box, I decided to turn them into a piece of art I could appreciate and showcase.

So, I grabbed one of her blankies {destined for said box} and the following supplies:

Heat n Bond Iron-on Adhesive
Scissors
Embroidery thread and needle
Embroidery hoop
Background fabric

Decide on a shape, I opted for a 'g' {but you could do something like a heart or a car}. On the smooth side of the Heat n Bond, trace out the mirrored image of the shape. Iron your shape onto the back side of your fabric. Then, once cooled, cut out your shape.

Peel the paper backing of the Heat n Bond off {the back of your fabric should feel tacky}. Stick your shape onto the center of your background fabric {I used plain white fabric}.

Then hand sew your image down using an embroidery hoop, needle and thread. I wanted for a homemade look so I used a running stitch along the inside and the outside of the 'g'.

You can either continue by embroidering a name or word OR you can simply press out the wrinkles and frame it as is...

If you want to add more details...keep on reading.

I decided to embroider GRACE across the 'g' in a brighter pink. Using a water soluble pen, I traced her name out in Freehand 591 {a free font you can download here}. Then, using a line stitch, I embroidered her name.

So, instead of this blanket ending up in a box, it's now ready to be displayed. For the moment, I'll keep it in a frame...

but eventually, I think I'll give it to the 'queen of quilts' to add to a quilt as a personalized square.

The possibilities are endless and the memories persevered are priceless.